AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I held my arms open for an embrace, and once everyone gave out their compliments, letting us know how good we looked, the picture taking began. Maybe I was tripping, but I want to say I saw my great grandmother crying. That was a strong ass woman right there, and I couldn’t remember a time that I’ve ever seen her cry a day in my life, but as she held her iPhone in her hands, I could hear her sniffling, and I saw her wipe her eyes. Maybe it was just tears of happiness. I mean, after all, she did raise my mama, so maybe she was just happy to witness this moment and finally get to see her go to homecoming, even if it wasn’t necessarily hers.
“Ima be waiting for you when you get back. We need to go out for drinks,” Mahogany’s loud ass screamed out to my mama as I held the door open for her and helped her into the car.
Mahogany better hope that my mama didn’t find out the news tonight about me having a baby on the way because my ole girl just may go to jail tonight for attempted murder. Once she was inside the car, I came around, got on the driver’s side, and closed the door behind me. Once my seatbelt was on, and my chair was adjusted the way that I liked it, I backed out of the driveway.
“These days, I feel like you’ve been too quiet. You get home from school and practice, and you shower, do your homework and go straight to sleep. What is it, baby? Let me find out that you have cold feet about taking me tonight with you to homecoming,” she said, and I laughed while playfully waving her off.
“I got the prettiest girl with me tonight as my date. What I’m having cold feet about? It’s nothing, Ma. If anything, I’m nervous about these next couple of games. We gotta make it to the championship. This my senior year. This means a lot to me,” I said, only telling the partial truth.
Yes, I was worried about that, but my real worry and what really had me shutting down these last couple of days was the secret that I was keeping from her. I was close with my ole girl, so I pretty much told her everything. The night I lost my virginity, I came home and told her that shit. I didn’t keep secrets from her, but my ole girl was so used to being let down or hurt, and I wasn’t trying to do that to her because that’s what was going to happen once I told her the truth. There was no doubt in my mind that this shit would hurt her.
“I know how much it means to you, son, but like I’ve been telling you all season long, we’ll be fine. It’s the night of your homecoming. Let’s shift our minds away from anything basketball related, alright? Let’s enjoy ourselves tonight.”
I nodded and let the conversation go. It took us about fifteen more minutes to pull up to the hall where the homecoming was being held tonight. After making sure that my inhaler for my asthma was in my pocket along with my phone, I turned the car off and got out. The same way that I’d helped her into the car, I’d come around and helped her get out. Like I’d seen in those corny ass romantic movies, I held my arm out, and she draped her arm in mine, so that it was interlocked, and that’s how we walked into the homecoming.
I swear it felt like every eye in the room had landed on us. I guess it was some cool shit for a boy to bring his ole girl with him to the homecoming because I received so much smiles from the students, the teachers, my teammates, and other boys that I knew from around the school had come and given me dap.
“Is this homecoming or Tootsies? I feel like I’m at a strip club. Look how these girls are dressed. Here I am, second guessing if the slit in my dress was too high, when this is pretty much nothing compared to these dresses that they have on,” my ole girl said.
I laughed at the look on her face. Shorties were walking around this bitch in skin-tight dresses like that little shorty on the movie Soul Food who was dancing all up on the groom in that short ass dress. I attended a predominately white school with a handful of people who had skin like me, so the little bunnies that were on the dance floor dancing, or doing what was supposed to be dancing, were the main ones in those too little dresses.
I found a spot at a table for my mama and me, and we took a seat together. I was scanning the room for Taylor because I didn’t want her to just pop up on me, but I hadn’t seen her yet. Hopefully, she’d decided to stay her ass at home tonight.
“What the niggas be saying in the movies, Ma? You want some punch or something?” I said right before I laughed.
My ole girl watched a lot of movies, especially romantic movies. Depending on my mood, I may join her in watching whatever corny shit that she was watching for the night. I’d seen movies where there would be some sort of school dance, and the man would always offer the woman some punch, so I was just repeating shit that I’d heard before. She laughed at my joke, but she did assure me that she would take some punch.
I quickly stood up from my seat and got the punch for her while I poured some for myself as well.
“Where’s Taylor?” my ole girl asked me when I made it back to the table.
“Your guess is better than mine. I haven’t really spoken with her like that,” I let her know.
She thought I didn’t see that little sly smile that was on her face. She probably was happy that I was making it seem like Taylor was no longer in the picture. For the next two hours, we danced, ate, listened to people come up and give announcements, and we even got to witness the homecoming king and queen be crowned. I was the type of nigga who liked to stay lowkey, so running for something like that wasn’t for me. I was already a king in my eyes.
“I’m about to run to the restroom really quick, and then we can go, alright?” I asked and stood up from the chair that I was sitting in.
She nodded with a smile on her face, and I quickly left. Majority of everybody was on the dance floor taking advantage of the last ten minutes or so that we had before homecoming came to an end, so when I made it to the back, where the restrooms were, I was in and out.
“You and Mommy look beautiful tonight,” a familiar voice said from behind me.
I turned around, and it was Taylor. She wasn’t dressed up in a beautiful gown with her makeup and stuff all done like the majority of the girls. In fact, she wore a gray hoodie with a pair of gray sweat pants. Her eyes were red and puffy like she’d been crying. This was my first time seeing her all night.
A week ago, when I questioned her through text on whether she was going to use the money that I’d given her for the abortion, she had assured me that she was going to use it for her nails and shit for tonight, so I assumed that was what she’d gone ahead and done. I wasn’t sure where the money had gone because her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her nails weren’t even done. Car keys were in her hands, and she must have snuck her ass in the back door or
something in order for her to have been able to get inside.
“What you want, shorty? Why you popping up on me and shit? That ain’t cool,” I barked.
She laughed while shaking her head, and a few tears fell in the process.
“You really want to stand here and talk about something not being cool, Vonte? The way you’ve been treating me these past few weeks since you found out that I was pregnant is not cool! You don’t think I’m scared? I’m seventeen with a baby growing inside me, and you’re already leaving me to fend for my fuckin’ self! I didn’t create this baby on my fuckin’ own, and I wasn’t just some random slut that you had sex with and happened to get pregnant. For crying out loud, I’m your fuckin’ girlfriend. I deserve better than this,” she cried.
“We both deserve better than this, shorty. I told you weeks ago that neither of us are ready to be parents. I haven’t told this to anyone yet, not even my ole girl, but I made up my mind that I’m going to sign to Duke. I’m going to announce that in a month at signing day. Shorty, that’s in North Carolina, damn near twelve hours away. Don’t put me in a situation where you get to call me a dead-beat dad. Basketball is my focus right now, not being a parent,” I truthfully told her.
“Is your mom still here?” she wiped her eyes and asked.
“Fuck you asking about her for? You don’t like her, and you know she doesn’t like you. There ain’t shit that you need to discuss with my ole girl,” I barked, getting closer in her face.
